Jones Lang LaSalle taps a whole world of data
New York-listed Jones Lang LaSalle is acknowledged as a leader in property and corporate facility management services, with a portfolio of approximately 1.2 billion square feet worldwide. Liquid Real Estate’s readers clearly believe its practical experience in the real estate market reinforces its prowess in research: they voted Jones Lang LaSalle the best global provider of research. The firm, which employs 320 research staff, operates worldwide, with about 135 researchers in Asia Pacific, 110 in EMEA and 45 in the US, as well as a strategy team. It covers all sectors – residential, office, industrial and retail – and has staff in almost 200 cities in 50 countries. One of the company’s crucial differentiators is its depth of experience: having established research operations in the 1970s – one of the first to do so – it has a vast quantity of data at its disposal.
“Data is a vital part of our operation,” says Rosemary Feenan, director of global research programmes at Jones Lang LaSalle in London. “Moreover, most of our staff – which comprise geographers, statisticians and both property and non-property experts – have been through two, if not three, downturns. They know the way the market functions.”
The clients served by Jones Lang LaSalle are a diverse range of local and international property investors, developers and corporates – with the three groups making up a roughly equal component of its business. “Corporate activity has become massively more important in recent years as companies have expanded into developing markets at an ever greater rate,” says Feenan. “And, of course, as corporates have looked overseas, those markets have become ever more important to investors. The relationship between the two groups has become closer.”
Jones Lang LaSalle publishes a huge range of city, sector, investment-type (such as Reits) and other reports, including benchmarks, such as Global Capital Flows, which support Jones Lang LaSalle capital markets activities. Similarly, clients use the research for a wide range of reasons, including specific investment guidance or information on suitable locations for outsourcing operations in India.
Beating the competition
Much of the research produced by Jones Lang LaSalle is published on a regular basis but the focus is still driven by clients’ needs. “Being relevant to the market is key,” says Feenan. “Unless we know that a publication will be of interest to our clients we won’t do it.” Indeed, Feenan says that Jones Lang LaSalle’s goal is to “create a secure research environment for core clients”, often of 20 years standing.
To this end, the firm often works with or partners its clients’ in-house researchers. “Research is not a one-way street. We’re always looking for the wider context and different interpretations. Working in a collaborative way aids that,” says Feenan. “We want to understand the uncertainties that clients face and try to resolve them. Jones Lang LaSalle also forges closer bonds with clients through education programmes and training.”
Although Jones Lang LaSalle has a handful of global competitors – and is challenged in every domestic market by local players – Feenan says that it is the firm’s internal culture that propels it forward. “We work hard to deepen our existing specialisms and innovate our products and methodology,” she says. “In recent years, we have expanded our geographies – into growth areas such as Brazil, China, India and Russia – while extending our scenario and forecasting capability.”
Feenan describes the staffers at Jones Lang LaSalle as a healthy mix of “grey hairs” and enthusiastic youngsters. She explains the benefits of such a workforce: “The basis of our approach is to try to use the intelligence of the people who work here to the greatest extent possible. Often the best way to get people thinking is to challenge them. By having lots of people with decades of experience and plenty of younger people with new approaches towards dealing with problems, you can achieve that.”
More generally, one of Jones Lang LaSalle’s core differentiators is its willingness to stand back and look at the big picture. “Our collegiate approach internally – which is supplemented by strong links with the academic world and external networks within the property industry – gives us the ability to consider a variety of factors that might not be immediately apparent to other observers,” she says. “Of course, it is important to make sure that deeper thought does not come at the cost of speed and flexibility.”
Despite the ever-increasing complexity of the research demanded by customers and produced by Jones Lang LaSalle – and the growing importance of issues such as the environmental efficiency and sustainability – the essence of real estate research remains the fundamental questions of: “What next? Where next?”, according to Feenan. “However, while the central questions may be unchanging, the details of the answers are always different.”
What does the crisis engulfing many developed markets in North America and Europe mean for Jones Lang LaSalle? “Our strength in rapidly growing emerging markets means we are well positioned,” says Feenan. “And, more important, research becomes more popular in difficult markets because the answers are more important. Clients are still looking for the next big thing in sectors, locations and investment styles, and so are we.”
